SCOTT Brown sat in one of Hampden's corporate boxes and watched the team in green-and-white being torn apart in the Scottish Cup final.

He felt sorry for them but, well, it was easy enough to shake off the disappointment. It was Hibernian, not his own Celtic, who suffered an unimaginably horrific 90 minutes in last season's final against Hearts. Brown has enough of an affinity with his former club to have attended and wanted them to win 12 months ago. The circumstances are different this time, when he will directly try to prolong their seemingly endless embarrassment in this competition.

Brown was in the Hibs midfield from 2002 to 2007, many of those years spent alongside his great pal Kevin Thomson, who will line up against him on Sunday. Thomson subsequently played for Rangers and will have a greater appreciation than anyone else in the Hibs dressing room of the mentality – and also the pressure – Celtic will carry into the final. They are clear favourites and priced at 1/4 to Hibs' 3/1, but Brown admitted to a sense of expectation weighing on Neil Lennon's men which Hibs could try to turn to their advantage.

It could not be regarded as an exceptional season for Celtic if they did not win the double, said Brown. In fact, it would take something away from their achievements over this campaign if they did not deliver the second Scottish Cup triumph of Lennon's three full seasons in charge. "Of course it would," said Brown. "Going to Hampden and losing: no-one likes to lose. I would say if we don't win the cup it would take the gloss off winning the league and reaching the last 16 in the Champions League. We need to win pretty much every game for Celtic fans to be happy. We want to win every game as well. They put a lot of faith in us so it would be something back for them as well."

Brown also knows the history which will rest on the Hibs players' shoulders, of course. When it comes to the Scottish Cup their dismal history is inescapable. What did he remember of their campaigns across the years he spent there? "We fell down all the time. Especially when we seemed to be on a good run, and then it came to a quarter-final or a semi-final and we seemed to get knocked out all the time.

"Going into this game it's huge for us and for Hibs as well. For us to end our season with a double would show you how good our season really has been. The Hibs tickets sold out as quickly as ours. It's a great occasion for both sets of fans."

There was predictable praise from him for Thomson, of course, and also compliments for winger Alex Harris: "He is very skilful. He drops a shoulder and half of the crowd seem to go the wrong way as well . . ."

The cup final captains' press conference required Brown and James McPake to be at Hampden for interviews and photographs yesterday. Brown found one aspect of the assignment especially pleasing: he was delighted when he took a look at the pitch. "It's got grass on it! I'm surprised. It actually looks like a nice national stadium this time instead of being fit for a rugby match. It looks lovely. It's good that they have managed to get it looking nice for the final, especially when it's going to be on television all across the UK. You don't want to see a pitch which has been dug up halfway through a season. Hopefully we get a nice day for the final.

"[At Celtic] we try and play football but we can also mix it up as well. If a team wants a battle we have got players who are up for that. We are going to miss a very important player in our team in Victor Wanyama [who is suspended]. If anyone wants to battle, you just chuck him in front of them and not many people are going to throw him out of the road or beat him in the air. But we also have different kind of players, like Joe Ledley, who works relentlessly. You see him closing people down and always looking for the ball as well."

There has been fears that Brown would miss the cup final and Scotland's World Cup qualifier in Croatia on June 7, yet he is scheduled to be fit and available for both. The latest in his catalogue of unfortunate injuries was abductor problem which kept him out of 16 club and international games between February and May. What sort of shape was he in yesterday? "I feel not too bad," he said. "I still wouldn't say I'm 100% because that is not going to come from two games [he returned for Celtic against St Johnstone and Dundee United this month] and two weeks of training sessions. I'm still a little bit off it, but I'll give it everything to lift the trophy."